All right, brethren, let's turn
to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. Last week, we looked here how
that the Lord's word never fails to accomplish God's purpose. He said in verse 11, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. and it shall
prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. This morning, I thought
that the message went well. After hearing that last week,
I thought this morning's message went well with that because we
saw that what God's purposed through this word is to deliver
his child out of bondage into liberty. And it's by the divine
revelation of the Lord Jesus, by God's power of healing Christ
in our heart, Now, this time we're gonna see when the Lord
has delivered us out of that bondage into liberty, what does
the Lord do? What does he produce in and for
his child? Well, verse 12. He says, for
you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace. The
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead
of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, instead of the briar
shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for
a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. When our gracious Lord gives
spiritual life in a man who was before a dead sinner, when he
gives spiritual life and faith to trust the Lord Jesus, to repent
from anything about ourselves, any of our dead works wherein
we were trusting to save ourselves. When he grants you faith and
repentance, our Lord makes all things new for the believer. That's why I read 2 Corinthians
5 in a scripture reading. He makes all things new. Everything. That's what we see
here. First of all, the Lord delivers us He delivers us. This is something new, liberty,
liberty. He delivers us and he delivers
us with joy. We go out with joy. Verse 12,
you shall go out with joy. Now, nothing in this passage
has any ifs or maybes or conditions in it. The Lord's declaring what
shall be. This is what the Lord shall bring
to pass. You shall go out with joy. Go out from where? Where were
we that we go out from? Every man that comes into this
world is under the guilt of the law, the guilt of sin, the curse
of the law, condemnation under the law. We were under condemnation. That's so of every one of us.
And the Lord leads us out of that bondage. He leads you out
of that bondage. That's what this, he leads you
out. The Lord said, Paul said in Romans
8, well, there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. Why not? Because Galatians 3
says, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being
made a curse for us. Why? Paul said, this is the message
of the gospel. God has not imputed the sin of
his people to us. Well, if God didn't charge us
with the sins we're guilty of, what did God do with our sins?
He hath made him sin for us who knew no sin. God numbered his
son with the transgressors. He made him sin. He numbered
him with the transgressors. Christ Jesus made his people
the righteousness of God in him. That's why Paul said there's
therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,
to them who are the called, to them who've been born again of
the Spirit and given a heart to look and behold Christ and
trust Christ. You're let out of that bondage
of the curse, let out, and that's our joy. A redeemed, oh happy
condition. Jesus is bled and there's remission.
We're happy, we're rejoicing in joy, he let us out. The other
thing that we're in bondage to is our sin nature. Conceived
in sin, we can't believe God. We wouldn't and we couldn't.
We would not receive the things of God. We couldn't, they're
spiritually discerned. But the Lord leads you out from
the bondage of your sin nature. He leads you out of that bondage.
When he gives you a new heart, he forms Christ in you and he
makes you behold the Lord Jesus. And for the first time, you hear
the gospel. Do you remember, brethren, it's
easy for us to forget this, especially when you're talking to somebody
that doesn't know the gospel just beginning to see something.
It's easy to forget. Do you remember how you read
this book and it just did not make sense to you? You know,
because number one, you went to the book looking for something
for you to do to have life. That was what we were all looking
for. I remember reading it and just and I tried to treat it
like any other book. I don't know how many times as
a young person I started at the first page and was going to try
to read through the whole book. And I could, I never did. But
I was always looking for something to do. And then I'd find some
things I thought, okay, I guess this is salvation. Then I'd find
another scripture that seemed to contradict that scripture.
And it just, nothing made sense. But when the Lord gave you eyes
to see, created a new heart, he led you out of that bondage
by giving you faith to behold the Lord Jesus. It's like a puzzle
with all the pieces put in place. When you go to this book looking
for Christ and looking to see how every passage is to glorify
Christ, to glorify how he has saved his people, what he's done
for his people, what he's doing for his people, the book, you
have the key to the book. The book starts to make sense
and you understand Christ is the message of this book. And
he leads you out of that ignorance and out of that that bondage
of your sin nature, he leads you out with joy. It's not that
you don't still have a sin nature, it's not, you still do, and you
still sometimes, his sins brings you into captivity, but brethren,
he keeps delivering you, he keeps leading you out, and he is your
joy, he is your joy. We couldn't free ourselves. If
he'd have left us to ourselves, we'd have stayed under the bondage
of the curse, and we'd have stayed under the bondage of our sin
nature. We couldn't deliver ourselves. But he said to his people, you
shall go out with joy. You shall. We were under the
devil's bondage. We were under his bondage. What
happened? Look at Ephesians 2.1. Ephesians
2.1. The same power it took to raise
Christ from the dead, it took to quicken you and give you a
new heart. only the power of God. He says,
Ephesians 2, 1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins, wherein time past you walked according
to the course of this world. According to the prince of the
power of the air, under the bondage of the devil, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience, Among whom also
we all had our conversation and time passed in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh of the mind. Remember
when that was so and you thought you were really free? Remember
when you thought freedom was sinning all you wanted to and
doing anything you wanted to do? And you didn't know it was
bondage. But what were we then? We were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. How were we freed? But God, but God, who's rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sin, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved. He said, so shall my word be
that goes forth out of my mouth. The word that goes out of my
mouth. Our Lord Jesus made us hear this gospel. That's how
he quickened us. made us hear his word, quickened
by the word of the Lord, and accomplished what he pleased.
He led us out of that bondage of the devil, the bondage of
the curse, the bondage of a sin nature. What did he speak to
your heart? Here's what he spoke. Let me
get back here and read this. Isaiah 43, verse one. Here's some of the things he
spoke to give you this joy. Verse one, now thus saith the
Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel,
fear not, for I have redeemed thee. Oh, there's the word he
speaks that frees you. I have redeemed thee. I have
called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. Only the Lord can make that personal
to you. Accept Jesus as your personal
savior. No, he's gonna make himself personal
to be the personal savior of his people when he speaks that
word right there. I have redeemed you. I have called
you by your name. You are mine. That's what he
speaks into the heart. leads you out. He speaks Isaiah 40, verse one. He says, or verse two, he cries
to you through this gospel and says, your warfare is accomplished. It's accomplished. Your iniquity
is pardoned. You've received of the Lord's
hand double for all your sin. Here's what he says, Isaiah 49,
nine. Isaiah 49, nine. Lord said, I'm raising you up,
tell this son, I'm raising you up so that you can say to the
prisoners, when he's told you, he's told you, I redeemed you,
I called you by your name, you're mine, when he tells you your
warfare's accomplished, I've rewarded you double for all your
sin, then he speaks this word, he says, go forth to them that
are in darkness. He says, show yourselves, he
leads you out of the darkness, out of the bondage you were in,
he leads you to Christ, That's what he said will happen.
That's what he does through this word. And you go out with joy. What's our joy? Listen to this
from Romans 511. We joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ by whom we have now received the atonement. That's it. We joy in God through
our Lord Jesus Christ who's made us to know, who's given us a
heart to look and behold and know we've been made at one with
God. Let Israel rejoice in him that
made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. He's our joy. In Isaiah 61.10,
look there, here it is, here's our joy, Isaiah 61.10. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, as a bride adorneth herself with
her jewels. That's what he does, brethren.
Now, after he's brought you out, now here's another thing that's
new. We have a new leader now. a new commander, a new guide,
a new leader. Look at verse 12, Isaiah 55,
12. He says, and you shall be led
forth with peace. He doesn't just call you out
and leave you alone. He calls you out and he leads
you. He leads you and he leads you
forth with peace. This is what our Savior does.
I could get folks to understand this right here. Jeff, the Lord
is as near to you, nearer to you than Joy sitting right there
beside you. He is in His people and He's leading His people.
What's your role of life? The Lord is. He's leading me. He's leading me. Look at verse four. Behold, I've
given him for a witness to the people. That's how we heard the
gospel. Our great prophet preached the
gospel to us. I've given you for a witness
to the people, a leader and commander to the people. That's Christ.
He's the shepherd. Now let's go back to Isaiah 40
again and let's see here. Isaiah 40, verse 11, he declares
it right here. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. We're led by the Lord. We're
led by the Lord through the gospel, through him arranging everything
in providence, but personally by him leading us in spirit in
the heart. We're led of the Lord. Look at Isaiah 42, look at verse
16. I will bring the blind by way
that they knew not. I will lead them in paths that
they have not known. I will make darkness light before
them and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them
and not forsake them. There is our joy, there's our
peace. I'll lead them and I'll not forsake
them. You'll be led forth with peace.
He'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you. And this will
be the result, go over to Isaiah 49, 9. Isaiah 49, 9, here. He says to the prisoners, go
forth. To them there in darkness, show yourselves. And here's what
he does. They shall feed in the ways.
and their pastors shall be in all high places, they shall not
hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat or sun smite them, for
he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs
of water shall he guide them, and I will make all my mountains
away, and my highways shall be exalted. He will, he will, he'll
do this for all his people, north, south, east, and west, He's the
one calling us and leading us, leading us forth with peace. Go with me to Romans 8. I just
want you to see this. I'd rather just read to you what
the Lord says and show you what each of these phrases mean from
God's Word than me preaching a bunch of my words to you. Look
here, Romans 8, 14. Here's the peace. Here's the
piece we have. He says in verse 14, as many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. You're
led by the Spirit. He said if you're led of the
Spirit, you're not under the law. We're not led by the law. We're not led by the law. We're
led by the person, the Spirit of God. We're led by him. And
here's our peace. You're the sons of God. Here's
our peace. You've not received the spirit
of bondage again to fear. Lord didn't give you a spirit
to keep you in bondage. He freed you. He brought you
out of bondage. And he's not intent on making
you fearful. He says, comfort my people. He
tells us over and over in Isaiah, fear not, fear not, fear not. You've not been called to fear,
but you've received the spirit of adoption. You're a child of
God. You're a child of God. So when
you have any trouble in this journey, who do you call? We cry, have a father. That's our father now. God is
our father now. We're calling God our father.
Therefore Paul said being justified by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus. There's our peace. Peace with
God through our Lord Jesus. We're not enemies to God anymore. In our heart we're not children
of wrath anymore. We're not in our hearts having
wrath toward God and hating God. He's given you a heart to surrender.
He's given you a heart to believe Him and lean upon Him and trust
Him to lead you and trust Him to be all your salvation. Because
you know, by His grace, you're righteous in Christ, you're holy
in Christ, you're gonna be kept by Christ. We just sang that. It's the first hymn we sang.
He said, that which He's created, He's not gonna forsake it. He's gonna keep it. He's gonna
keep it. That's our peace, brethren. back
in our text. He said, you're gonna go out. You shall go out with joy, freedom,
liberty, brought out of bondage. You'll be led forth with peace,
always led by the Lord. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you in the sand, and all the trees of the
field shall clap their hands. You're gonna start beholding
Christ's glory now. You never could behold it before,
now you're gonna behold Christ's glory. Everything that he created,
he created it for his glory. This world, one day, we see it
now, we see it through a glass dimly, but one day we're gonna
know just how real every single thing God ever created, he created
to glorify himself. Scripture says, Colossians says,
all things were created by him and for him to glorify him. And he's gonna make you start
looking around and you're gonna see the mountains and the hills
break forth before you into singing. You're gonna see them showing
you the glory of the Lord Jesus. You're gonna see the trees of
the field clapping their hands. You're gonna see them glorifying
the Lord Jesus before you. and it's all gonna bring you
joy, it's gonna bring you great comfort in your heart. Everything
created was created by God for his glory, by our Savior for
his glory. The heavens declare the glory
of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork, scripture says,
and so does all creation. Now, take the sun rising. Christ is called the Son of Righteousness,
S-U-N, he's called the Son of Righteousness. And Psalm 19,
five says, he rises as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. You
picture now, so now, when you get up in the morning, and you
see the sun coming up in the morning, before, it just, everyday
occurrence, something's happened, you've seen it hundreds of times.
Lord, I bring this to your mind. You think about a scripture that
talks about Christ being the son of righteousness. And as
that son rises out of his chamber, you think of Christ arising. You think of him rising and running
his course and doing all the works of God and fulfilling all
the glory of God and saving his people by his works. You picture
the Lord Jesus, where before you didn't see him. He's the
sun, S-U-N of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings,
his light that heals you. The sun is healthy for you, you
need vitamin D, that's healthy. Why, why, why, who made it like
that? Who created it like that? The
Lord did, why? Because Christ and his light,
his shining forth is our health, it is our eternal life, he is
our life. He made it to glorify him. And
you'll see, you'll see these things. You'll see him going
forth. Now, when you see the rain fall
and you see the snow fall, the scripture just like we saw last
time in Isaiah 55 comes to your mind. The Lord says, as the rain
cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither,
but watereth the earth, maketh it bring forth in bud, that it
may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall
my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and prosper
in the thing whereto I sin. You didn't see that before. You
didn't think on those things before. Now, everything in creation
is glorifying God. It's glorifying God. The Lord's
bringing these things to your heart, making you see him in
places everywhere you look. I was thinking this week, I was
talking to Brother Fred Evans Saturday morning, And I'm gonna
preach this message. I think he's preaching it today,
but he was telling me about what he's been studying in Ezekiel
47. What a picture. He said he was
shown a river coming out of the holiest of holies. That's where
he saw this river coming from. And as the river came out, it
got deeper. He went another thousand, and
it got up to his knees. He went another thousand, it
got up to his loins. It kept getting deeper. And then
he come to a spot where it was a big pool. And he said, and
all around that pool, there was evergreen trees and trees flourishing. That river is the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's coming out of the holiest
of holies. It's coming from the Lord Jesus himself. And that
gospel, ever since it started with Adam, and you go through
the scriptures, and you see that river getting broader and deeper,
you see it going all the way through, and then Christ comes,
and now you see the pool, and you see all his accomplishments,
and his people are the trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, evergreen by his gospel, this river of life is
Christ himself, and so now, You know, I can't cross a bridge
without looking down a river. I just have to look down the
river when I cross a bridge driving down the highway. But now you
think of things like that passage. You think of things like Christ
being the water of life and the river and the gospel being this
river that's broader and deeper as it goes, making us evergreen. When you see the evergreen tree
and the trees that are flourishing in the drought, you think of
Christ making you a tree of righteousness and planting you and keeping
you and keeping you green by his spirit and his grace. All
these things wherein we just before, we were just using up
God's creation and never giving a thought to God. Now the mountains
and the hills break forth into singing before you, and all the
trees of the field clap their hand. You start seeing him everywhere,
everywhere you look. Now look forthly. Newness of life makes the believer
an entirely new creation. He makes you an entirely new
creation. Verse 13, instead of the thorn,
shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar, shall come
up the myrtle tree. What were we as we came forth
the first time? We were nothing but briars and
thorns. That's all we were. That's all
we were. That thorn and briars are emblems
of the curse. That's what they are. They're
emblems of the curse. The Lord told Adam, because you've
obeyed the voice of your wife, you're not hearken to me, you've
partaken of the tree that I forbid, The Lord said, now you curse.
Now the ground's cursed. It's gonna bring forth briars
and thorns. You're gonna earn your bread
by the sweat of your brow. Briars and thorns are emblems
of the curse. That's why Christ had on a crown
of thorns. He's the king who bore the curse
for his people to put it away. He's our head who bore the curse
for us to put away that curse from his people. But that's what
we are in our flesh, thorns and briars. That's how we are in
our flesh. That's how we could produce, thorns and briars. But
now he makes you a fir tree, a myrtle tree. These are emblems
of a believer being made evergreen,
being made a fruitful tree. The Lord said, make the tree
good and its fruit will be good. It's not the fruit that makes
the tree good. An apple being produced don't
make the tree an apple tree. It's the tree being made an apple
tree that makes it bear apples. And the Lord makes the tree good. He makes you holy. He makes you
righteous in him, in him, in him by what he's accomplished
in his presence in the heart. And then he brings forth good
fruit. Instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir tree. Instead
of the briar, shall come up the myrtle tree. Go over to Isaiah
61. Look at verse one. This is Christ speaking. The
spirit of the Lord God's upon me because the Lord hath anointed
me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the
opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God
to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. He's glorified by
making us a new creation, a new tree, And this is what matters.
This is what matters. It's not circumcision that avails,
you're keeping the law, it's not gonna make you a new creation. It's not uncircumcision that
avails. You might think you're free and
you're not under the law and a man can be a legalist in that
just as much as the other. It is the Lord making us a new
creation. He is salvation. It's him making
us a new creation. He makes us trees of righteousness,
and he's the one that makes us flourish. Psalm 92, look there
with me, Psalm 92. This is what that text is declaring
in Ezekiel 47. It's declaring that this gospel,
this river, and those trees around that pool of water, that's Christ
making us flourish through this gospel by his spirit, by his
word, by his presence, by him. Psalm 92, 12, the righteous shall
flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Evergreen, that's what they were.
He said, those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall
flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing
to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock. There is no unrighteousness
in him. is to show him, is to show what
the Lord did, is to bring glory and honor to the Lord. And that's
what the last point is in our text. All of this is to bring
all the glory to God. Look here, Isaiah 55, 13. He said, and it shall be to the
Lord for a name. Not to us, not to man, It'll
be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall
not be cut off. Everything our Lord does is for
his glory. He said, I created you for my
glory. It's for his name. He saves to
bring glory to his name and all the people he saves glory in
him. Israel shall be justified in the Lord and in the Lord shall
we glory. That's what Isaiah said. We are
gonna glory only in the Lord. That's why He saves. He gave
us His name to give honor and glory to Him that He did all
to save. He chose us, He redeemed us,
He regenerated us, He led us out, He keeps leading us, He's
made us a new creation, He makes us flourish, and it's all of
the Lord. It's for His namesake. You that
he's called and done this for are the sign. That's like saying
what the Lord said in Isaiah 43, you are my witnesses. You're
the fact that you were so dead and lost and in bondage and couldn't
do any of this for yourself, and yet now the Lord's done it
all for you. You're a monument of His grace. You're a witness
of God's power and grace by the very fact that now you believe
Christ. Now you give Him all the glory.
Now you want to honor Him in everything you do. You bring
forth good fruit by Him. Everything He's created, He's
shown in what He's done for you that He is salvation and that
salvation is entirely of the Lord. And you're an everlasting
sign that shall not be cut off never cut off, never separated
from God again, reverend. A monument of love, grace, power,
and the faithfulness of God. That's what his people are. Now
that's why Paul said, if any man be in Christ, he's a new
creation. You see how new? If any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. The
thorn, the briars, the trusting in ourselves, the hating God,
the trying to lead ourselves, being under the law, all the
things that were before, it's all in the past now. And all
things have become new. And all things are of God. We didn't do any of it. He did
it all. He's reconciled us to Himself
by Jesus Christ, and He's given us this ministry, made us believe
it, made us know we've been reconciled to God by His Son. That's the grace of God, brethren.
That's what He shall accomplish in everyone that He sends this
gospel to. That's what He's doing with His
Word when it's preached for those that He loves and He saves. That
shall come to pass. Isn't that good news? That's
joy. That's peace. The Lord will never let us go. He's gonna save His people. Let's
go to Him, brethren. Our Lord, we thank You. Lord, where can we even begin
to number the blessings You've given us, the mercies You've
shown us? Lord, Your goodness is as high
as the heavens. Your thoughts to us. Lord, we just can't even comprehend
how you could love sinners like us, love us so freely, be so
gracious to us. And yet you have and you've redeemed
us and saved us and called us. Lord, make us to see, make us
to know more and more that you really and truly are everything. to us, that you are our salvation. Make us stop looking to ourselves
and make us, Lord, live for you. Make us witnesses just by what
you work in us. Make us speak of you, bear witness
that way. Make us give you the honor and
the glory. And Lord, we thank you. We beg
you to keep us like you promised you will, not cut us off. Lord, you've been so gracious
to us. We thank you, we praise you. Keep us, Lord, as we leave here.
Don't let us forget what we've heard this morning. Make this
word to be life in our heart, power in our heart, Make it be there when we wake
up in the morning, go through the week, next week. Keep it
on our mind and our hearts. Keep us beholding you and all
your creation. Until you bring us here again,
Lord, to hear you speak in your word. Make us to know you're
with us. Make us to know you're in us. and right here with us, leading
us every step of the way. Don't let us forget that, Lord.
Be with your people everywhere. We pray it in Christ's name. Amen.